Polyglot Bible: Song of Solomon: Song of Solomon 1

This is the first chapter of the Song of Songs (Song of Solomon) from the Hebrew Bible, presented in a four-column parallel format across the King James Version (with Strong's concordance numbers interspersed), the Greek Septuagint, the Hebrew Masoretic text (Tanakh), and the Latin Vulgate. The chapter opens the book's central erotic-lyric tradition: a female speaker addresses her beloved, expressing longing for his kisses and physical presence, and defends her sun-darkened skin to the daughters of Jerusalem. The lovers exchange mutual praise using pastoral and sensory imagery — comparing each other to horses, doves, clusters of myrrh, and henna blossoms — while situating their intimacy within a royal chamber framed by cedar beams and fir rafters. The distinctive feature of this presentation is its explicit text-critical purpose: readers can compare how each tradition renders the same Hebrew source, with notable divergences visible throughout (e.g., the Septuagint and Vulgate render "breasts" where the KJV reads "love," reflecting a well-known crux in verse 2). The Strong's numbers embedded in the KJV column make it useful as a lexical reference tool. This would interest scholars, translators, or readers studying biblical transmission history, versional differences, or the erotic poetics of the ancient Near Eastern love-song tradition underlying the canonical text.

Polyglot Bible: Song of Solomon: Song of Solomon 1

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